Grant added a new event:
The 3rd New Zealand Honey Bee Research Symposium
Read more about this event...
The 3rd New Zealand Honey Bee Research Symposium
Read more about this event...
Jun
29
Event: The 3rd New Zealand Honey Bee Research Symposium
- Thread starter Grant
- Start date
I went last year and really enjoyed it and learnt a lot. Some of the research is a bit esoteric and we desperately need more research into things like varoa but you can hardly blame the scientists and the science students for studying what they are funded for. I am absolutely pro-science and pro-science funding but if we don't get some new methods for controlling varoa there won't be any hives to study.
Well, generally the scientists follow their interests (or the interests of their supervisor - and then become hooked, in the case of bees etc).
So make friends with local scientists and get them hooked on bees !
That damn L word has a lot to answer for, in terms of what might have been funded. But I think work presented by Pike at conference will illuminate quite a bit on the 'quieter' information in the Colony Loss Survey.
Look forward to seeing you at the symposium again @John B ?
I will absolutely be there John.
Most of the science I do is observational science and I have seen varoa and its effects getting worse every year since we have had it. I may be wrong but I don't think most bee scientists or anyone from MPI realise just how precarious bee health is at the moment. I have up till now coped I think pretty well with varoa but this autumn the effects have been devastating. Some of my hives are fine, a few have died and a hell of a lot have had huge losses in bee numbers usually between 50 and 75%. In some of the badly affected apiarys all the highs would be under 25% of the strength I would expect them to be. I initially thought it was resistance but monitoring showed few mites. The hives however continued to show some PMS and deformed wings virus and only started to recover two months after the treatments went in.
Like I said this hasn't affected every hive and a friend of mine who had very similar symptoms last year has not had any problems this year. All I know is that somebody needs to look at this and if it keeps going or gets worse then beekeeping will not be sustainable.
Most of the science I do is observational science and I have seen varoa and its effects getting worse every year since we have had it. I may be wrong but I don't think most bee scientists or anyone from MPI realise just how precarious bee health is at the moment. I have up till now coped I think pretty well with varoa but this autumn the effects have been devastating. Some of my hives are fine, a few have died and a hell of a lot have had huge losses in bee numbers usually between 50 and 75%. In some of the badly affected apiarys all the highs would be under 25% of the strength I would expect them to be. I initially thought it was resistance but monitoring showed few mites. The hives however continued to show some PMS and deformed wings virus and only started to recover two months after the treatments went in.
Like I said this hasn't affected every hive and a friend of mine who had very similar symptoms last year has not had any problems this year. All I know is that somebody needs to look at this and if it keeps going or gets worse then beekeeping will not be sustainable.
As a co-organiser of this event, you've given me an idea John. Why not the chance to make an industry issue pitch for research into issues? Will raise the thought if you're willing ?
More than willing John. I am also willing to share my yard books and records with scientists interested in just what has been happening. The last 10 years are perhaps the most interesting but there are some continuous records for up to 60 years.
That's an excellent idea. Break it into core topics like "bee health", with sub-topics like "new varroa treatments" and it will probably pique people's interests. Maybe even put a vote against them to rank their relative importance.